I'm not gonna use that word again!'". For white audiences, answering how you measure the distance of fear requires that they look at their own fear. He keeps the camera closely trained on the faces of those whove suffered emotional wounds that wont heal, and who live with regrets that are devastating. 'Strong Island' doc takes a personal look at LI killing, aftermath Strong Island Review Netflix Documentary Oscar Nominee, This story contains heavy spoilers for Creed III. My mother, frankly, always saw me for who I was. In an appropriation of true crime style, details and testimonies are shuffled around to increase curiosity and unveil late revelations, some of which are devastating. Studio Screen: Strong Island maysles documentary center Have we accepted fear as a rationale for homicide when it's actually supposed to be reasonable fear? William was unarmed. Im not going to do that., That slam-the-door-in-your-face attitude characterized much of the investigation into Williams death. probably get up and go. Racism is character assassination. These Romantic Movies Are Guaranteed To Make You Cry, The Greatest Romantic Comedies That Youll Watch On Repeat, The Hottest Movie Sex Scenes, Ever (NSFW), The Best Part Of Snapchat? autopsy report. was herself a girl when she taught her own mother to read and write. That includes himself. In April 1992 on Long Island, New York, 24-year-old black teacher William Ford Jr. was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19-year-old mechanic. Triangle of Sadness Ending Explained: Does Abigail Kill Yaya? 2,555, This story has been shared 2,297 times. It's not newit's just new to you. happened to the Ford family afterward. Detroit, Michigan, U.S. William Clay "Bill" Ford Jr. (born May 3, 1957) is an American businessman, serving as executive chairman of Ford Motor Company. William, an unarmed, black 24-year-old teacher, was slain by Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old white man who was working at an auto body shop on Long Island. In April 1992, on Long Island NY, William Ford Jr., a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. attack, unattended in the colored section of a hospital waiting room. All rights reserved. himself weighed, and how much Ford weighedas if to gauge how much of a for encounters with the police. comfort one another. But its actually a far more personal, probing project, less a relitigation than a reckoning, less a procedural than a film about the Sisyphean task of processing terrible grief. Meet Cleo Anthony, Netflix's 'Money Shot' Documentary Trailer Shines A Harsh Light On Pornhub, The "Most Trafficked Website In The World", 'The Skinny Shot' on Hulu Is An Ozempic "Documentary" That Plays More Like A Commercial, Where Is Estonia Located? Strong Island reveals itself to be a portrait of a disinterested justice system, and the machinations that go into shielding white youth from punishment. determined which questions the white investigators asked in William Strong Island asks what one can do when the grief of loss is entwined with historical injustice, and how one grapples with the complicity of silence, which can bind a family in an imitation of life, and a nation with a false sense of justice., Says Ford: Because Netflix is a global platform, Strong Island will be seen by communities around the world who are dealing with the issues that are unpacked on screen. Filmmaker Yance Ford Explores Injustice With His Moving - Essence although the property taxes were high. Mark Reilly - Undersecretary & Chief Operating Officer - LinkedIn Yance, who is transgender, talks about how close he and William were, and more shatteringly, about his regrets. The award was a testament to Yance Fords decision to turn a camera on his family and her, and to tell his brothers story despite its frustrating dead ends. He died before Yance In Strong Island, Bringing a Murdered Brother Back to Life By Julia Felsenthal September 15, 2017 In 1992, an unarmed 24-year-old Long Island man named William Ford, Jr., was shot and. He was shot in the chest with a rifle by two confrontations with Ford, even though Dunmore Ford herself had been trying to establish what happened the night that William Ford, Jr., was It is heartbreaking to hear Fords mother reproach herself And When we realize that punishing doesn't work and that justice ought to be about restorationthat the civil institutions of our justice system should work equally for everyone. I'm not necessarily in a state of transformationI'm just being more public about it, which is a semi-uncomfortable place because I'm a private person. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. "Strong Island" tells the story of the murder of 24-year-old Ford, a black teacher killed by a white 19-year-old mechanic named Mark Reilly in Long Island in 1992. Update January 24, 2018: Strong Island has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, making Ford the first trans person to ever receive an Oscar . I did not feel that we were received as parents of a victim, reports Barbara. Strong Island: Yance Ford's Documentary Brings a Long-Lost - Vogue The house had a stillness unlike anything Ive ever felt in my life, Barbara remembers of the aftermath of her sons death. William was unarmed. findings that, afraid for his life, he had shot Ford in self-defense. A summary of the case gives no There is no hint of Rodney King or the On April 7, 1992, in Central Islip, a Long Island suburb of New York City, William Ford, Jr., a twenty-four-year-old man, was shot and killed by Mark Reilly, a nineteen-year-old. In all its glory, Strong Island is as intimate as documentaries get. Ford, a imposingly large former high school football player who had previously come to Reillys auto body shop and allegedly thrown a vacuum cleaner in frustration, was not alive to defend himself. with when it came to their dealings with black people. I just wanted to know all the reasons exactly why. Then: Im not angry. Strong Island is just the beginning. William Ford, Sr. had hoped to be a draftsman, but in order to take care William, unarmed and black, was shot by a white . By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content. if they didnt file a police report. His tow truck had hit them two months Dont talk back; above all, Strong Island | Screen Slate S, Welcome to Love Like This?, a romance column where we, Kathleen Newman-Bremang and Ineye Komonibo, revisit some of the most romantic or not, in hindsig, Whether its the iconic early-aughts film Love Dont Cost a Thing or her 2021 Netflix hit Resort to Love, Christina Milian has solidified herself in th, This story contains spoilers for Netflixs You People. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Its an incredibly effective and affecting technique that foregrounds the films raw honesty, openness, and vulnerability; the camera is both a confrontation between Ford and his viewers and a mirror for Fords own confessional introspections. Film Reviews. We get the feeling that parts of them retreated Strong Island (2017) - Strong Island (2017) - User Reviews - IMDb William Ford, a black man, was shot and killed at the age of 24 by a 19-year-old mechanic named Mark Reilly, at the auto shop where Ford's girlfriend's car was being repaired. An all-white grand jury refused to indict, accepting it as a case of self-defense. Fords death, as his grieving mother puts it, was in vain., Twenty-five years later, filmmaker Yance Ford has revisited the details of his older brothers death in a challenging, emotionally stinging documentary. When Dunmore Ford recalls how much she and her husband, William Ford, Mark Reilly, a young white man. after 9/11, to protect his new country. return a true bill because her son was a black man. Director: Yance Ford Bobby Hadid joined the N.Y.P.D. The body weighs 240 pounds, is 5 feet 8 inches in height, and appears compatible with a reported age of 24 years. Yance aims to reanimate that corpse. In January,Strong Island won the Sundance Film Festival special jury award for storytelling, with Netflix acquiring the film soon after. We were received as folks being informed that an investigation had to be conducted. She later laments her experience testifying in front of the all-white grand jury as they read books and magazines and chatted and otherwise appeared not to be paying any attention to her testimony. reckless youth has been revised as a responsibility of black tutelage, a My gender identity has been something that's been known to me since the day I was born. When the data is really there to substantiate the claims of mistreatment and unequal treatment in the criminal justice system for decades. Are we interrogating reasonable fear enough? As the documentary An all-white grand jury voted not to indict Reilly and the investigation has remained sealed. All the essentials: top fashion stories, editors picks, and celebrity style. Yance Fords extraordinary ten-years-in-the-making documentary And it's not over yet. K. F. Watanabe On an April night in 1992, William Ford, Jr., a 24-year-old black man, was shot and killed by Mark Reilly, a white teenager, in Central Islip, Long Island. details are important. My sister is my best friend. My father just believed in my Mr. Ford had gone there after a dispute over a repair and confronted Mr. Reilly about an insult that was said to have been made earlier to Mr. Fords mother. Screen Slate is a guide to moving image culture. Yance Ford: I was at Sundanceit was maybe our second screeningand someone in the audience during the Q&A said she'd been in the Bronx ADA's office for 18 years, and that in her opinion, something very wrong happened with this case. You're going to be punished for wanting to serve as a transgender [person], for wanting to have equal treatment if you're queer, if you want equal pay if you're a woman. unwilling to accept that someone else gets to say who Williams was. segregation of nineteen-sixties Charleston, South Carolina. Sing, Unburied, Sing is shadowed by the long aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Read more about us. Rikers Island, says in Strong Island that she will believe until her Reilly shot Ford through the heart with a rifle but an all-white grand jury, after a less-than-enthusiastic investigation, declined to issue an indictment, and the case died. 2023 Cond Nast. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Netflix/Strong Island The Fords had moved to Long Island from. teen-age sons, the one that tries to prepare them as young black males Strong Island is so quiet, so dignifiedif that is not too Booker T. And I hated that moment. In the opening moments of "Strong Island," director Yance Ford directly addresses the camera in raw, provocative close-up. sense of the experience of watching Strong Island, in which the visual I don't want to say that I'm not optimistic, but I don't think that optimism is in my toolbox of feelings, honestly. 'Strong Island' director did not want to make 'your typical true - KPCC other. William and Yances younger sister Lauren Ford remembers how Strong Island is a 2017 documentary feature film directed by Yance Ford. 'Strong Island': Doc Explores A Mysterious Murder [Review] expected the repairs to take. Williams murder wasnt prosecuted because the grand jury decided that Mark Reilly shot him in self defense on that fateful night in 1992. for not having had that talk with her older son, for telling her The 1967 film Guess Whos Coming to Dinner starred Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton as a ne, Tessa Thompson Talks Going To Couples Therapy With Michael B. Jordan. Its a talk rooted in black history, and 3,511, This story has been shared 2,623 times. the blow of racial injustice and fell apart. 2,248, This story has been shared 2,204 times. Strong Island, which airs on Netflix today, begins with a phone call from the former prosecutor at the Suffolk County District Attorneys office who handled Williams case. How Black Lives Matter Is Resisting Trump. I think we're going to see a lot of resistance to any rollbacks by DOJ to criminal justice reform, and I hope that Strong Island provides some affirmation to families like Tamir Rice's mom and Trayvon Martin's parents. He lives in Los Angeles. Perhaps she Strong Island (2017) | Watch Free Documentaries Online All Rights Reserved. grade, in South Carolina, to go to work stripping tobacco. eighties, Polaroids that have turned into a family archive. William Ford Jr. was shot and killed on April 7, 1992, an incident at the center of the documentary Strong Island. Something deep inside his family also died that night, and Yance Ford, one of Williams siblings and the films director, explores that loss, exposing a grief that is profound and agonizing. 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Ad Choices, Actor Graham McTavish Planned a Scottish Castle Wedding for His Bride Garance Dor, 70 Incredible Forgotten Photos From Vintage Oscar Nights, Phil Ohs Best Street Style Photos From the Fall 2023 Shows in Paris. entrance exam to be a corrections officer. Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. How Playwright Sam Hunter Processed His Own Trauma, Who Plays Kam Evans on 'Sex/Life' Season 2? His murderer was escorted from the crime scene without handcuffs and never prosecuted. I decide this is not right, that I must give voice to this story.. Outside of the courtroom, they were the targets of intimidation by an Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old mechanic at Super Stang Auto Body in Central Islip, New York, where Ford's girlfriend's car was being serviced. Dunmore Ford Strong Island | International Documentary Association Ford was unarmed. I could have helped William to stay out of that situation to begin with, he says. Is 'Operation Fortune' Streaming on HBO Max or Netflix? Instead, it was William, dying on the ground, and Kevin who were regarded skeptically by law enforcement. unfamiliar car that often parked across the street from their house, and A 22-year-old black man, William Ford, was shot and killed by a 19-year-old white man, a mechanic named Mark Reilly, after a verbal altercation. I'm afraid that we're going to move backward to a time when we've embraced a punishment mentality to solve everythingnot just crime but everything. Ford, Jr.,s killing. in his own murder. As the title of the film indicates, the events of the film take place on Long Island, New York, where in April of 1992, William Ford Jr., a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a . The film's completion and release (now on Netflix) has dovetailed with his own gender transformation. 'Mandalorian' Funko Pops up to 77% Off Baby Yoda and More for Season 3, Who Plays the Armorer in 'The Mandalorian'? What happened to Mark Reilly Strong Island? - KnowledgeBurrow.com Early on in the film, Yance Ford says, I am 2,204, This story has been shared 1,797 times. Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan. Though questions of race and justice are raised, Yance Ford more often examines how he and the rest of his middle-class family dealt, or refused to deal, with the tragedy.